I am hoping someone might be able to give me some advice on an issue I am having, that will directly impact our new GSD puppy we are planning on adding to our family.

Five years ago we adopted a male Pomeranian from a local shelter/rescue… to put it bluntly he is kind of an unpleasant individual, he came with a lot of "issues", most of which we have been able to break him of. He doesn't food or resource guard anymore, or bite at men. Overall his rehab into our house went fairly well.

So, my issue is.. him losing his mind and barking, biting, snarling at anyone that comes to our house door or when the doorbell goes off. I absolutely cannot have him teaching a large GSD that this is okay. It's not okay for my Pom either but I let it slide (which is now biting me in the butt) cause he is tiny. He is so bad that I actually have to pick him up and put him in another room cause I have ZERO control over him.

The stupid part is that he actually never bites anyone, he just air snaps at them , but never would/hasn't actually bite a stranger.

So, we started working with a trainer who told us that I needed to get his attention when he is "freaking out" and have him sit, and continue to treat him and make the person being there seem like it is a good rewarding thing. However, this is a lost cause- when he decides he has a problem with someone at the door he is in "the zone" and I could dangle a steak in front of his face and he would ignore me.

I am really hoping someone has some advice on what I could do to break this, as I said I can't have him teaching a 100 pound GSD that this is acceptable behaviour. We are planning on adding a GSD pup to our family in the spring of 2015 and so I am hoping to work on this and break him of his little habit before then.

Thank you guys- I really appreciate it. I don't want his bad behaviour (which is completely my fault) to effect our new pup.